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On the beat
Is your child having a hard time keeping a steady beat? When playing ensemble in class, are they struggling to stay in time? Difficulty in keeping a beat is relatively uncommon in my studio these days due to earlier exposure to formal music classes. Most of my new keyboard students have attended one or more…
Teaching with an attitude – a good one!
I love the following words from Haim Ginott. I first read it when I was an undergrad in university. It was in the “Ask Ada” column of the city paper and I cut it out. I still have that worn piece of newsprint and the passage has been my own personal teaching guideline ever since….
Tune in to being “in tune”.
For a musician, nothing is worse than an instrument that is not in tune. Sour notes can be as nauseating as sour milk. Musicians heavily rely on their ear to determine accuracy of notes, intervals, tone, shading, balance and touch. You can imagine how difficult it would be to gauge all of these things if…
How long should Billy be practicing?
How much should my child practice each day? This is a question I hear many times in a year. It is a tricky question and really can only be answered in this way, “for as long as it takes.” Seems pretty arbitrary I know, but that really is the best answer. The fact that parents…
The Amazing Musical Maze
I love mazes…the big ones made out of shrubs or corn stalks or stone. The ones that you enter into and wander through blindly, hoping each turn will bring you closer to the exit. Sometimes you hit a dead end and have to double back, sometimes you find yourself back at the beginning and have to…
Note reading…it’s all a blur….
Have you ever taken a good look at a piece of music…a really good look? It is made up of lines, dots, squiggles and a mish mosh of symbols….a beautiful piece of visual art that, when translated by the capable hands or voice of a musician, becomes an auditory treat….well, if it is translated correctly. Like…